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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Fran grew up teaching everything from chickens and goats to dogs and horses. These days, Fran works with DOG GONE IT rottweiler rescue, is registered with AKC as a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and continues to train dogs in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also writes a canine question & answer column for a local news paper, The Hilltop & High Desert Shopper News.
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Fran Williams
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[Edit]
1/18/2006
I have a 1 year old female black lab mix and an 11 month old female french bulldog. My husband and I got the lab at the humane society first. We love labs and plan to have children and agreed that a lab would be great with kids. However, she was always very shy and acted as if she had been abused as a puppy. Two months after getting the lab, we also purchased the french bulldog. From day 1, they have not gotten along. Our Frenchie is extremely aggressive with the lab and has established dominance. But lately, the lab has been misbehaving. She climbs the fence in the back and goes into the neighbors yard and will not come back. Then when I go to get her, she cowers and tries to bite me. She has also tried to bite my husband when he trims her nails. We are afraid she has turned into a fear biter, although we have never given her reason to. Most of the time, she is the sweetest dog in the world. Have we done something to make the situation first? Since we plan to have kids, do we need to look for a new home for our lab? I am simply heart-broken over this, and I don't know what to do. Please help! (swalters430, Georgia )
Hi, well you have a few really bad problems here, let’s start with the fact that she is getting "OUT". How is she getting over that fence? You must stop this. Is it possible she
is trying to get away from the other dog? Is she bored? What makes her feel safe at the neighbors? In order to get to the root of any problem we must first search the whys of what is happning.
As for the snapping at you-"STOP" using your hand to grab her, put the hook end of your leash through the handle make a noose and place that over her head and neck then with one good pull say her name tell her to "COME" and pull, (do not jerk or drag her) this way you have control over her yet she cannot bite you. In most cases like this it is not because the dog was ABUSED its because the dog was not allowed to be socialized so they live in fear of every thing, then they go to a home who feels sorry for them, babies them and it makes it worse.
You need to get this dog into training class to help you better understand the canine mind and for this dog to better understand how to be a dog. As for trimming her nails and getting bit I would put a muzzle on her-again this is just fear, but she needs to get over it. And of course biting is not a option as you already know.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to get this dog into a training class, please it’s the best thing for all of you and with some work you should be able to turn this dog around and have a wonderful life time -safe pet. Fran Dog Gone It
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